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Quel est mon problème?

This is a game I came across online which would work very well with good intermediate or advanced students. It would be a great way to practise phrases such astu dois, tu devrais, à ta place je..., il te faut, il te faudrait or even il faut que + subjunctive. It would probably take 15-20 minutes.

Produce on post-its or sticky labels a load of simple problems. To save preparation time you could get advanced students to write them and then dish them out at random.Stick one on the back or the forehead of every pupil in the class. The pupil must not see their own problem. Students must circulate and give advice to the person on what they should do to solve the problem. The person with the problem has to work out what it is.

Here are some which might work well. You will need lots because some will be solved quickly and students will need replacements. Clever advanced students may be able to string out the dialogues by suggesting amusing or obscure solutions to the problems - encourage them to do this. You could then set a written homework where students would have to write, say, twenty problems with twenty solutions.

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I did my first degree in French and Linguistics at Reading University and my MA in second language acquisition at the Institute of Education, London. I taught at Tiffin School, Hampton School, then was Head of Modern Languages at Ripon Grammar School in Yorkshire for 24 years. I now write resources for frenchteacher.net, train PGCE students at Buckingham University, present at occasional events, blog and work for the AQA exam board training and writing teacher support resources.

Publications

The Language Teacher Toolkit (2016), a handbook for teachers, co-authored with Gianfranco Conti